Rhodes counted, there were fourteen children in total. Twelve had been forced here on foot, while two were carried, both looking like they'd just been beaten.
"I can sneak the children away underground," Rhodes said, "but to be safe, we should distract them first."
Erza nodded. "Leave that to me."
One thing Fairy Tail was definitely good at was causing a scene.
"Alright. Wait for my signal." Rhodes summoned Worm again and handed it to Erza as the signal carrier.
"Summon: Krugs! Split up!"
Rhodes called forth another group of Krugs, immediately splitting them into smaller ones, twelve mini Krugs in total, and sent them sinking underground.
Rhodes himself shifted into the form of a Krug, flashed Erza a thumbs up, and burrowed into the ground.
Erza crouched low, holding onto Warm, and found another hiding spot.
Down at the altar, the leader of the Black Magic Cult, Ghost was interrogating his men.
"What happened to those two brats?"
"They tried to escape on the way here," one of the black-robed figures said. "We might've... hit them too hard bringing them back."
Ghost narrowed his eyes. It wasn't about hitting them too hard, it was about some of his men taking the chance to vent their anger. Still, at least they hadn't killed the children.
He sniffed the air, then frowned. "Clean them up. Offering dirty sacrifices would be a disgrace to Lord Carniber."
There was no time to heat water, so the black-robed men grabbed buckets of freezing water and roughly began washing the children.
The gray-haired boy was covered in bruises, but he still hugged his sister tightly and whispered, "It's okay. Just hold on a little longer. It'll all be over soon."
The little girl, shivering from the cold, sobbed quietly. Deep down, she knew now, her brother was a liar.
At that moment, Warm, acting as the signal, vanished.
It meant Rhodes was ready.
Erza immediately stood up and shouted boldly from the mountainside, "There you are, evil cultists!"
Dozens of black-robed cultists turned in shock. "Who's there?!"
"Requip: Giant Armor!"
In a flash of light, Erza donned a heavy golden suit of armor, a massive spear gleaming in her hands.
Without wasting another second, she hurled the spear with a roar: "Spear of Purification!"
The cultists shouted in alarm.
"She dares attack us alone?!"
Ghost's face twisted. "Her target is the altar! Stop her!"
But intercepting Erza's furious throw was easier said than done.
Five cultists near the altar leapt up, trying to intercept the spear.
Two of them completely misjudged its speed and collided into each other midair.
The other three managed to raise their weapons to block, but the force dragged them down too.
The spear was like a falling meteor. No, it was a meteor, except this one came crashing straight down on their heads.
The altar that dozens of cultists had painstakingly built, the centerpiece of all their planning and dark rituals, was blown to pieces by Erza's single throw.
The black-robed men stood frozen, staring blankly at the ruins of their altar.
Was that seriously just a javelin and not a magic cannon?
"Bastard..." Ghost's face twisted with fury as he watched the woman on the mountainside destroy days of hard work and years of dreams in a single instant.
He gripped his staff so tightly that veins bulged on the back of his hand.
"Kill her!" he roared. "Offer her as a sacrifice to Lord Carniber!"
"Boss! The brats are gone!" someone shouted in panic.
"What?!" Shadow whipped around. The children who had been waiting for their so-called "cleansing" had vanished.
"That woman. She has an accomplice!"
At the foot of the mountain, Erza was already striding forward with powerful, unstoppable steps.
Behind her, twelve mini Krugs emerged one after another, each carrying a child carefully in its pincer-like mandibles.
Rhodes appeared too, holding the gray-haired brother and sister securely in his arms.
He had planned to retreat further, but the children did not know how to control their breathing underground. Keeping them hidden for too long risked suffocation, so he had no choice but to bring them up early.
The children gasped for breath, bursting into cries of fear and confusion.
Rhodes quickly dispelled his transformation magic and tried to calm them. "It's alright. Don't be scared. We're wizards from Fairy Tail. We're here to rescue you. We'll take you home soon, I promise."
But before the children could fully understand, a furious shout rang out.
"Go home? You're not going anywhere!"
Ghost barked an order, and instantly, every black-robed cultist with a staff unleashed a volley of magic blasts aimed straight at Erza, Rhodes, and the children. Tʜe source of this ᴄontent ɪs 𝓷𝓸𝓿𝓮𝓵✶𝓯𝓲𝓻𝓮✶𝓷𝓮𝓽
The magic blasts were different from the usual spells like impact or explosion used by the Council's troops. Each one carried a dark curse, the sinister glow unmistakable.
Rhodes instinctively reached for the pendant around his neck, but Erza stopped him.
"Take the children and go! Leave the rest to me!"
Rhodes didn't waste time like some overly dramatic actor in a bad play. The moment Erza gave the order, he turned and ran.
The mini Krugs sprang into action, gently lifting the children onto their backs before scampering away on their short legs.
"Equip: Heavy Armor Set!"
Erza swapped into a sturdier armor, crossing her arms in front of her as the thick plates on her gauntlets locked together into a heavy shield. At the same time, a massive green defensive magic circle materialized in midair.
More than thirty cursed spells slammed into the barrier, exploding into a mess of ugly black fireworks.
Erza's long crimson hair whipped in the wind, and her solid, unshakable back filled the battlefield with a sense of overwhelming reliability.
"Keep firing! She's only one person!" a black-robed cultist shouted.
Magic blasts of all colors rained down again. The green shield flickered under the pressure.
Meanwhile, another cultist, skilled in close combat, charged forward, wielding various weapons.
Erza glanced back briefly.
Rhodes, the master of quick retreats, had already replaced the mini Krugs carrying the children for a Raptor, its wings flapping hard as it half-flew, half-ran at a rapid pace toward the mountains.
They had almost reached the safe side of the hill. At the same time, twelve mini Krugs had burrowed into the ground again, six Murk wolves were sprinting downhill to join the battle, and two Gromps were moving wide to flank the enemies.
To deal with these kinds of scum, Rhodes had zero qualms about using poison.
Erza smiled. Turns out her partner was very reliable after all.
When she turned back to block another wave of attacks, her face hardened. Her expression sharpened, serious and deadly.
"Equip: Heaven's Wheel Armor!"
A flash of light, and Erza appeared floating in the air, twin swords in hand. Steel wings spread from her back, gleaming under the winter sun.
Sixteen swords of the Heaven's Wheel Armor shot out like meteors, aiming directly at the cultists rushing toward her.
These black-robed wizards weren't weaklings. The swords only managed to knock down six or seven of them.
However, Erza's unmistakable appearance and iconic magic immediately revealed who they were facing.
"The armor-changing magic, the crimson hair, and that armor. She's the Fairy Queen, Erza Scarlet!"
"And that guy earlier... he's a Fairy Tail wizard too!"
"The number one guild in Fiore..." Ghost gripped his staff tighter, his face darkening.
Things had just gotten a whole lot worse.